Greenline, Lummus partner to produce biodiesel

By Erin Voegele | November 13, 2008

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Web exclusive posted Nov. 24, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. CST

California-based Greenline Industries Inc., a provider of modular biodiesel production equipment, and Georgia-based Lummus Corp., a supplier of cotton ginning equipment, announced Nov. 19 they have signed a joint sales and marketing agreement to jointly provide comprehensive solutions for customers to produce biodiesel from cottonseed oil.

Michael Brown, Greenline's chief executive officer, said cottonseed oil is becoming a major feedstock for biodiesel around the world. By teaming up with Lummus, he said Greenline will be able to provide customers with in-depth knowledge and industry leading solutions.

According to Lummus spokesman Michael McLaughlin, depending on where the cotton is grown, the oil yield can range between 30 and 40 gallons per acre. "Most cottonseed oil produced in the United States is extracted in large volume oil mills using chemical solvents, like hexane," McLaughlin said. "However, there is a trend towards decentralized cottonseed oil production in the United States and around the world because of its attractiveness as a biofuel feedstock. This localized extraction is done by screw presses that heat up and crush the cottonseed after it has been delinted."

Once extracted, cottonseed oil can be used as a feedstock in Greenline's modular, skid-mounted biodiesel production platform. According to Bud Grant, Greenline's vice president of sales and marketing, his company sells plants with production capacities of 3 MMgy, 5 MMgy and 10 MMgy.

Greenline's plants, which use a continuous process technology, utilize no water, Grant said. According to Greenline's Web site, a special ion-exchange resin purifies the biodiesel. "There is no acid involved and there are no hazardous materials involved from a standpoint of waste streams or effluence," Grant said. "It is a completely clean system." To date, Greenline has sold 33 biodiesel processing lines.